The invention relates to a coaxial plug member comprising a housing, an inner contact, an outer contact and an insulating piece which is arranged between the inner and outer contacts.
In the event that such a plug member is plugged into a complementary plug member in order to establish a plug connection, there exists the danger that the two plug members are dislocated or turned in relation to a centered arrangement where the two middle axes of the plug members are coincident. In the case of such a misalignment, undesirably high loads are possibly exerted on the plug contacts. These loads are transferred, to some extent via the housing and to some extent in direct way, to the component to which the plug member is attached. If the contacts have been soldered with the components, in particular in SMT technology, there exists the danger that the loads acting on the soldering spot lead to a damaging of the soldering spots.
From WO 00/52788 there is known an adapter which serves for connecting two circuit boards, in particular in the field of RF engineering. A base member is mounted on one of the circuit boards, this base member being provided with a ball-shaped head. An insulating piece provided with an inner conductor and an outer conductor is pivotally attached to the ball-shaped member. The insulating piece can be plugged into a complementary base member which is mounted on the other circuit board. Due to the pivoting arrangement of the insulating piece, it is possible to compensate for a lateral offset between the two circuit boards. By plugging the insulating piece into the complementary base member at differing depths, deviations in the distance between the two circuit boards can be compensated for. The known adapter, however, does not concern a plug member, but a coaxial connection which serves for a permanent connection between two circuit boards in a stack of circuit boards. Moreover, the structural expenditure is comparably high, because with the articulated attachment of the insulating piece, making contact with the inner and outer conductors is very complicated.
It is the object of the invention to further develop a coaxial plug member of the type initially mentioned to the extent that with low structural expenditure the contacts are subjected to lower loads, if it happens that the plug member is inserted into a complementary plug member with a misalignment being present. According to the invention, a coaxial plug member is provided which comprises a housing, an inner contact, an outer contact and an insulating piece which is arranged between the inner and outer contacts. The outer contact is pivotally attached to the housing, as a result of which also the insulating piece received in the outer contact and the inner contact received in the insulating piece are able to pivot as a unit. In this way there results a particularly simple construction, because solely one single component has to be pivotally attached to the housing, namely the outer contact. Nevertheless, on plugging in of the complementary plug connector, the contact unit consisting of the inner and outer contacts and of the insulating piece is able to automatically self-align corresponding to the misalignment of the two plug members, so that the middle axes of the contacts to be plugged into each other are coincident again. The contacts of the two plug members can then easily be pushed into each other, without excessive loads occurring.
According to the preferred embodiment it is provided for that the inner contact is provided with a ball-shaped head onto which a spring clip is slipped which can be connected with a circuit board by means of SMT technology. Using a ball-shaped head results in a connection between the inner contact and the spring clip in the nature of a ball joint, so that the contact unit is able to move relative to the spring clip without a movement being transferred to the spring clip. Thereby it is ensured that the SMT soldering spot, by means of which the spring clip can be connected with the circuit board, is not exposed to loads. The contribution of the ball joint-like connection between the inner contact and the spring clip, for pivotally arranging the contact unit, can be neglected.
Preferably it is provided for that the ball-shaped head is approximately coincident with the center of motion of the contact unit in the housing. Thereby it is ensured that no translatory motion occurs between spring clip and inner contact, if the unit of inner contact, outer contact and insulating piece is swiveled relative to the housing; there will merely occur a rotation by few degrees.
Advantageous designs of the invention will be apparent from the sub-claims.